Home sales, prices surge again in May in Kane, Tri-Cities

Home sellers found significantly more buyers last month, as the housing market in and around the Tri-Cities continued to show signs of newfound strength in rebounding from the depths of its crash.

In May, home sales in the Tri-Cities of St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia, combined, increased 61.2 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the most recent round of home-sales data.

The MainStreet Organization of Realtors, a trade group representing Chicago-area real estate agents, reported that 166 detached single-family homes sold in the Tri-Cities in May.

A year earlier, the three communities combined to log 103 home sales.

That increase marked an acceleration of the trend that had been ongoing through the spring. In April, for instance, home sales activity in the Tri-Cities increased by 34 percent from 2012 to 2013.

The local rate of increase also eclipsed the increase seen in Kane County overall in May.

The Illinois Association of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes in Kane County increased 40 percent from May 2012 to May 2013, as 620 single-family homes were sold in the county last month.

Overall, 763 residential properties were sold in Kane County in May, an increase of 41.6 percent compared to May 2012.

Distressed properties, which includes foreclosed homes and short sales, remained a sizable portion of the local market last month, as well.

In the Tri-Cities, 32 distressed properties sold in May, accounting for 19.2 percent of sales last month, the MainStreet Organization reported.

A year earlier, 19 distressed properties sold, accounting for 18.4 percent of local sales.

As home sales strengthened, so, too, did home prices.

In Kane County, the IAR reported that the median price of a home increased 4.4 percent in May, from $158,000 a year earlier to $165,000 last month.

And in the Tri-Cities, the average of the median prices for the three communities increased 9.5 percent, to $315,000 from $287,785 the year before.